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Mr. Khalil, a legal permanent resident, has been held in Louisiana for more than three months. The judge suggested he could be released as early as Friday unless the government successfully appeals.
June 11, 2025Updated 5:50 p.m. ET
A federal judge on Wednesday barred the Trump administration from continuing to detain Mahmoud Khalil under a rarely cited law invoked by the secretary of state and suggested that he could be released as early as Friday.
However, the judge, Michael E. Farbiarz, paused his own order, saying that it would not go into effect until 9:30 a.m. on Friday, which would allow the administration to appeal.
It was not immediately clear whether the administration would do so. A Justice Department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Khalil was detained in March. To justify his arrest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited the rarely used law, saying that Mr. Khalil’s presence in the United States threatens the country’s foreign policy interest of preventing antisemitism.
Judge Farbiarz had already found that the law itself was likely to be unconstitutional. On Wednesday, he found that Mr. Khalil had shown he would be irreparably harmed were he not released.
Mr. Khalil’s “career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled — and this adds up to irreparable harm,” he wrote.
But there is still an asterisk. The Trump administration has also accused Mr. Khalil of willfully failing to disclose his membership in several organizations when he applied for permanent residency, allegations that Mr. Khalil’s lawyers have contested fiercely.
Judge Farbiarz wrote that it was “overwhelmingly likely” that Mr. Khalil would not be detained based solely on those allegations. But it is not clear if he would be released on Friday if the government were to argue that those allegations were, in fact, the reason for his detention.
Still, the ruling marks a major victory for Mr. Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident who played a leading role in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the school’s campus last year.
Mr. Khalil, whose wife and infant son are American citizens, has been held in Louisiana for three months. He has not been accused of a crime.
He was the first of many students, including some legal permanent residents, to be targeted by the Trump administration. His lawyers have argued that he was arrested because of his pro-Palestinian speech. He has remained in detention even as several similarly situated students have been released.
The White House has accused Mr. Khalil of “siding with” the terrorist group Hamas, but the administration has not provided substantive evidence that he expressed support for the group.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in the New York region for The Times. He is focused on political influence and its effect on the rule of law in the area's federal and state courts.
